A personal air-quality tracker that lets you know what you're breathing | Romain Lacombe

翻译人员: Buyun Ping 校对人员: Lipeng Chen

So for the past 12 years,

在过去的12年中，

I've been obsessed with this idea

有一个想法一直 在我脑海中挥之不去：

that climate change is an information issue

气候变化是一个事关信息的问题，

that computers will help us fight.

而电脑会帮我们解决这个问题。

I went from data science to climate policy research,

我从数据科学转向气候政策研究，

from tech to public service,

又从科技转向公共服务，

in pursuit of better data

只为了追求更好的数据，

to avoid the wasted energy, resources, opportunities

以避免因浪费能源、资源和机会

that lead to runaway carbon emissions.

导致的碳排放失控。

Until one day, running in the streets with a friend, it hit me:

直到某一天，当我和朋友 一起在街上跑步时，我突然想到：

the same cars, factories, power plants

那些汽车、工厂、发电厂，

whose emissions are wrecking our climate over time

长期来看，它们排放的废气 正在破坏我们的气候，

同时它们还在当地排放有毒污染物，

also release harmful, local pollutants

that threaten our health right here and right now.

此时此刻，正威胁着我们的健康。

All this time I'd focused on the long-term environmental risk

我一直专注于长期环境威胁，

when I should have been up in arms

但我真正应该反对的

about the immediate health impact of pollutants in the air.

却是空气中那些 会立刻损害健康的污染物。

Air pollution is a burning public health crisis.

空气污染是一项 非常严重的公共健康危机。

It kills seven million people every year,

每年7百万人因此而丧生，

it costs five trillion dollars to the world economy

它对世界经济造成了 50亿美元的损失，

and, worst, it robs us of our most precious gift,

更糟糕的是，它会削减 对我们至关重要的东西，

the years in our lives:

我们的寿命长度：

six months of life expectancy in my hometown of Paris

它使得我家乡巴黎的 人均寿命缩短6个月，

and up to three, four, five years in parts of India and China.

使得印度和中国部分地区的 人均寿命最高缩短3到5年。

And in the US, more people die from car exhaust than from car accidents.

而在美国，汽车尾气造成的 死亡人数甚至高于交通事故。

So how do we protect ourselves from pollution?

那么，我们该如何 保护自己远离污染呢？

The reason it's difficult is an information gap.

我们之所以很难保护自己， 是因为信息缺失。

We simply lack the data to understand our exposure.

我们缺少关于周围环境的信息。

And that's because the way we monitor air quality today

因为现在空气质量监测系统的目的

is designed not to help people breathe but to help governments govern.

并非保证人们的呼吸质量， 而是帮助政府进行监管。

Most major cities operate networks of air-quality monitoring stations

大多数城市都有空气质量监测站，

like this one in London,

就像伦敦的这个，

to decide when to cut traffic or when to shut down factories.

用来决定在什么时候进行 交通管制，或是让工厂停工。

And these machines are like the computers from the '60s

这些机器就像是60年代的电脑，

that filled entire rooms.

能占据整个房间。

它们非常精准，但是体积庞大，

They're incredibly precise but incredibly large,

heavy, costly --

十分笨重，价格昂贵——

so much that you can only deploy just a few of them,

因为这些原因，你只能部署有限的几台，

and they cannot move.

而且无法灵活的移动它们。

So to governments, air pollution looks like this.

所以在政府眼中， 空气污染只是屏幕上的几个点，

But for the rest of us,

但对于其他人而言，

air quality looks like this.

空气污染到处都是。

It changes all the time:

空气质量时刻都在变化：

hour by hour, street by street,

每个小时，每条街道，

up to eight times within a single city block.

在一个街区中 变化就有八次之多。

And even more from indoor to outdoor.

如果你算上市内和户外， 变化次数就更多了。

So unless you happen to be walking right next to one of those stations,

除非你正好走过一个监测站，

they just cannot tell you what you breathe.

不然你无法得知自己呼吸的空气质量。

So what would environmental protection look like

如果它被设计用于智能手机，

if it was designed for the age of the smartphone?

环境保护会变成什么样呢?

So for the past three years,

在过去的3年中，

我和我的团队研发了一项技术，

my team and I have been building a technology

that helps you know what you breathe

通过一台手持设备来帮助你们

and fits in your hand.

了解当前的空气质量。

Flow is a personal air-quality tracker that you can wear with you

Flow是一款个人空气追踪器，

on a backpack, a bike, a stroller.

你可以把它放在包上， 自行车上或是婴儿推车上。

It's packed with miniature sensors

它内置微型传感器，

that monitor the most important pollutants in the air around you,

能够监测你周围空气中最大的污染物，

like nitrogen oxides,

例如，氮氧化物，

the exhaust gas from cars,

也就是汽车尾气的主要成分，

or particulate matter that gets into your bloodstream

或是能够进入你血液

and creates strokes and heart issues.

造成中风和心脏疾病的悬浮颗粒，

Or volatile organic compounds,

亦或是挥发性有机化合物，

the thousands of chemicals in everyday products

来自日常生活中数以千计的化学产品，

that we end up breathing.

最终被我们吸入肺中。

And that makes this data actionable

上述的原因让这项数值 具有实际的参考价值，

and helps you understand what you're breathing

能够让你了解你呼吸的空气质量，

by telling you where and when you've been exposed to poor air quality,

它会提醒何时何地 在你周围的空气质量较差，

and that way you can make informed decisions

以帮助你做出明智的决定，

to take action against pollution.

行动起来，对抗污染。

You can change the products you use at home,

你可以更换日常用品，

you can find the best route to cycle to work,

你可以找到一条更好的上班路线，

you can run when pollution is not peaking

你可以选择污染较轻的时候去跑步，

and you can find the best park to bring your children out.

你还可以选择一个空气质量 最好的公园带你的孩子游玩。

Over time you build better habits to decrease your exposure to pollution,

长此以往，你会养成 更好的习惯，更少接触污染，

and by tracking air quality around them,

不仅如此，通过监测那些骑手、

cyclists, commuters, parents

通勤者和父母周围的空气质量，

will also contribute to mapping air quality in their city.

我们也能构建出城市空气质量地图。

So we're building more than a device,

所以我们不仅仅建造了一个设备，

but a community.

还构建了一个社群。

And last summer,

上个夏天，

we sent early prototypes of our technology to 100 volunteers in London,

我们在伦敦将原型机 分发给100个志愿者，

and together they mapped air quality

他们的数据合起来，构建出了

across 1,000 miles of sidewalk

横跨一千英里街道

和伦敦中央20%地区的空气质量图。

and 20 percent of all of central London.

So our goal now is to scale this work around the world,

所以我们现在的目标 是把这张地图扩大到全世界，

收集大众信息，以采集 每一条街道的空气质量信息，

to crowdsource data so we can map air quality on every street,

to build an unprecedented database

来构建一个前所未有的数据库，

so scientists can research pollution,

这样科学家就可以研究污染，

and to empower citizens, civic leaders, policy makers

同时鼓励市民、民间领袖和政策制定者们

to support clean-air policies for change.

来支持清洁空气的政策。

Because this can and must change.

因为我们可以，也必须改变空气质量。

Remember cigarettes in bars?

你们还记得酒吧里弥漫的烟味吗？

It took decades of lung cancer research and second-hand smoking studies,

人们花费数十年 对肺癌和二手烟进行研究，

but eventually, we reached a tipping point and we passed smoking-ban laws.

但最终，我们到达了临界点， 通过了禁烟法案。

We must reach the same tipping point for air quality and I believe we will.

我们必须达到空气质量的临界点， 而我相信我们会做到。

In the past couple years alone,

仅在过去的几年中，

governments have fined carmakers record amounts

政府就对那些不遵守 排放标准的汽车制造商

for cheating on emission standards.

征收了罚款。

Cities have passed congestion charges or built bike lanes --

各大城市纷纷征收交通拥堵费， 或是建造自行车道——

like Paris that turned this highway,

例如巴黎，

right next to my home, in the middle of the city,

就把我家旁边，市中心的一条公路，

into a waterfront park.

改造成了沿海公园。

And now mayors around the world are thinking of banning diesel outright

现在世界各地的市长都在考虑

在2025、2030、2035年前 逐步完全禁止内燃机。

by 2025, 2030, 2035.

But how much faster could we go, how many lives could we save?

但我们行动能有多快？ 我们能拯救多少条生命？

Technology alone will not solve climate change,

仅仅靠科技是无法应对气候变化的，

nor will it make air pollution disappear overnight.

它也无法让空气污染在一夜间消失。

But it can make the quality of our air much more transparent,

但它能让空气质量的信息公开透明，

and if we can empower people

并且如果我们能鼓励人们

行动起来，改善自己的健康，

to take action to improve their own health,

then together we can act to bring an end to our pollution.

那么团结起来，我们就能给污染划上句号。

Thank you very much.

非常感谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）